Idioms Definition and Its Examples that are Commonly Used in Native English Communication

In studying linguistic, whatever the language you want to learn, whether it’s French, German, or English, etc. (except animal language), it’s a good idea to deepen your communication skills with its idiomatic expressions. Generally, most people also know idiomatic expressions as idioms. Here we will focus on the definition and examples of English idiomatic expressions.

To explore thoroughly about idioms in terms of its examples and how to use them in communications with English native speakers, firstly, discover the meaning of the idiom or idiomatic expression.

The Definition of Idiomatic Expression

Idiomatic Expression or Idiom refers to a word, phrase, or expression that has an allegorical meaning which is cannot be cannot be interpreted with its plain translation either to its language of origin or another language. In other words, Idiom is an unpredictable word, phrase, or expression than the ordinary meaning of its constituent.

What is the Use of Idioms?

Idioms are a reflection and the value of a culture when in a communication of using a certain language. So, the uses of idioms are to be more mingle to the culture of the community you are joining with, to be more fluency of speaking, and to avoid awkward in communicating. In addition, if you learn the idioms of a given culture and language means you are improving your communication skills to understand the conversations of a language cultural more than what you read or hear.

Most non-native English speakers translate idioms word-for-word (literally). I also used to. As a result, translating idioms literally will end up with nonsense because they are not individual words, but groups of words. Therefore, as a non-native English, you should learn to remember and interpret idioms as many as possible. So, knowing English is not enough, but you also need to know its idioms. It’s useful to improve your English communication skills.

If you ever took the TOEFL or IELTS test, especially in the Listening section, you must have ever heard idiomatic expressions. Then, as a non-native English speaker, you would probably have difficulty in understanding what’s being said by the speaker or the narrator during the test. So, the most effective way to solve such a problem is to memorize idioms and its meaning as many as possible.

In general, English idioms are used to express ideas or advice to someone using subtle phrases which we should not interpret them literally. To be more precisely, idiomatic expressions are used as proverbs in a communication.

The Examples of Commonly Used Idioms and Its Meaning

Overall, the following idioms are the example of commonly used idioms that you would hear in native English conversations. So, by remembering the idioms its meaning is useful to improve your English communication skills.

a. “Your guess is as good as mine”
Meaning: “I have no idea”. It’s a more chummy answer instead of saying I have no idea.

b. “To hear something straight from the horse’s mouth”
Meaning: To get the right information from the authoritative source.

c. “Wouldn’t be caught dead”
Meaning: Would never like to do something. This idiom means is an individual does not like to do something, someone who never done a work as required.

d. “Taste of your own medicine”
Meaning: Something that is done or happened to you is the same thing that you have ever done to someone else.

e. “Take with a grain of salt”
Meaning: Not take what someone says personally or seriously.